Arch form for furnace roofs



June 16, 1953 E. E. M VEY ET AL ARCH FORM FOR FURNACE ROOF-5 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 29, 1949 INVENTORS Emmei" EM Veg ad BYJames/1. flpre W WM ATTORNEYS rl 9w m sw June 16, 1953 E. E. McVEY ETALARCH FORM FOR FURNACE ROOFS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 29, 1949INVENTORS Emmet E M Veg M BY James H Opre W 21 ATTORNEYS Patented June16, 1953 ARCH FORM FOR FURNACE ROOFS Emmett E. McVey and James H. Opre,Youngstown, Ohio Application April 29, 1949, Serial N 0. 90,442

The invention relates to collapsibleforms for building masonry archessuch as furnace roofs and the like.

Under present practice in rebuilding the arch roof of an open hearth orsimilar furnace, a wood form is first constructed, upon which themasonry arch is built. Twelve carpenters with twelve helpers requireeight hours to build such a wood form and after the masonry arch iscompleted it requires the work of several men for several hours to teardown the wood form.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a prefabricated,collapsible formwhich may be erected in two hours by eight unskilledlaborers, ready for building the masonry arch thereon, and which may bequickly and easily removed after the arch is built.

The object is toprovide a form for the building of masonry arches suchas furnace roofs and the like which is simple and inexpensive inconstruction and may be easily erected and torn down and which can beused repeatedly.

Another object is to provide such a form comprising a plurality oftrussed forms, or centering members, each comprising an arcuate topchord of the curvature of the arch desired, an arcuate bottom chord ofless curvature, radial struts between the chords, and bearing endsconnecting the ends of the chords together. I

A further object is to provide such a roof form in which the individualforms or centering members are of tubular construction.

A still further object is to provide such a roof form with spacers fordetachably holding the several forms or centering members in position.

Another object is to provide an arch form of this character with wedgemeans for supporting the forms.

The above and other objects, apparent from the drawings and followingdescription, may be attained, the above described difiiculties overcomeand the advantages and results obtained, by the construction,arrangement and combinations, and parts which comprise the presentinvention, a preferred embodiment of which, illustrative of the bestmode in whichapplicant has contemplated applying the principle, beingset forth in detail in the following description, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of one of the forms or roof centers, showingthe same in use for building an arch roof upon a furnace;

Fig. 2 a. top plan view of a plurality of the cen- 2 Claims.(Cl.-189--37) 2 ters or forms, connected in properly spaced relation forbuilding an arch roof thereon;

Fig. 3 a fragmentary, perspective view of a plurality of .the forms,with planks laid thereon, in

position for building an arch furnace roof;

I Fig. l an enlarged side elevation of one of the spacing members, withparts broken away for the purpose of illustration;

Fig. 5 an edge View of one of the spacers; and

Fig. 6 an enlarged, transverse section through one form or center,showing portions of two spacers connected thereto.

Referring now more particularly to the embodiment of the inventionillustrated in the drawings, in which similar numerals refer to similarparts throughout the several views, the invention is shown as applied tothe building of a roof for an open hearth furnace, although it should beunderstood that this is only for the purpose of illustrating anapplication of the invention, and that the improved arch form is adaptedfor the building of various types of masonry arches.

Portions of the conventional vertical, structural frame members of thefurnace are indicated at it, and the usual arch supporting platescarried thereby, are indicated at i l. These members do not form anypart of the present invention but are illustrated to show the manner inwhich the improved arch forms or centers are used in constructing anarch roof in an open hearth furnace or the like.

Each individual form is in the shape of a truss, comprising the arcuatetop chord l2, conforming to the curvature of the arch roof to be built,the curved bottom chord [3, having a considerably less curvature thanthe top chord and the substantially radial struts it, which are weldedor otherwise rigidly attached at their upper and lower ends to the topand bottom chords respectively as indicated atv l5. These members areall preferably of tubular construction and may be made of standard pipe,shaped as best shown in Fig. 1.

Opposite ends of the top and bottom chords are welded or otherwiserigidly attached to the fiat bearing plates I6, each of which has anupturned flange I? at the adjacent end of the top chord l2.

In building the arch roof for an open hearth furnace, as shown in Figs.1, 2 and 3, spaced tiers of bricks may be loosely laid up within eachside of the furnace, adjacent to the framework as indicated at l8, andI-beams I9 may be horizontally supported thereon.

Spaced pairs of wedge blocks may be placed upon the beams-l9 to supportopposite ends of the individual forms, the bearing plates 16 of theforms resting upon the corresponding wedge blocks, which are adjusted toproperly position the ends of the forms adjacent to the arch supportingplates 1 l of the furnace structure.

The individual forms are held in spaced relation by means of thespacers, indicated generally at 2|. Each spacer may be in the form of aflat bar, as best shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, having a hook 22 at one endfor engaging over the central strut 14 of one form and a U-shape portion23 upon its other end for receiving the central strut 14 of the nextadjacent form, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 6.

Staggered, relatively wide and narrow slots, 24 and 25 respectively, areformed in opposite sides of the hook 22 to receive a wedge 26 fortightly enclosing the strut it within the hook. Similar slots 2'! and 28are formed at opposite sides of the U-portion 23 for receiving a similarwedge 29 for wedging the central strut 14 of the next adjacent formwithin the U-shape portion of the spacer.

Preferably, as shown in Fig. 6, one spacer is connected to the lower endof each strut 14 while the other spacer is connected to the upper endthereof, so as to more rigidly hold the assembled forms in verticalposition. The wedges 26 and 29 may be connected to the spacer 2| as bychains or other flexible members as indicated at 39.

Planks, as indicated at 3|, are laid over the top chords of theplurality of spaced forms, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the upturnedflanges l1 upon the end bearing plates of the forms preventing theplanks from slipping down from the forms.

A masonry roof, of fire brick or the like, is then built upon the planks3!, as indicated at 32 in Fig. 1, the ends of the masonry arch beingsupported upon the arch supporting plates 1 I of the furnace framestructure as shown in said figure.

When the arch roof is completed the wedge blocks 29 may be removedpermitting the individual form members to drop down away from the archso that the forms and planks may be removed.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explainedthe principle of our invention and described an embodiment thereof,

4 but we desire to have it understood that within the scope of theappended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than asspecifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1. A collapsible form for use in the construction of arches, comprisinga plurality of similar forms, each comprising arcuate top and bottomchords and struts connected at opposite ends to the chords, spacersdetachably connecting adjacent forms together, each spacer having a hookat one end engaging a strut of one form and an open U-shape portion atthe other end engaging a strut of an adjacent form, there being slots inopposite sides of the hook and in opposite legs of the U-shape portionand wedges located through said slots and against said struts detachablyconnecting the spacers to the forms.

2. A collapsible form for use in the construction of arches, comprisinga plurality of similar forms, each comprising arcuate top and bottomchords and struts connected at opposite ends to the chords, spacersdetachably connecting adjacent forms together, each spacer having a hookat one end engaging a strut of one form and an open U-shape portion atthe other end engaging a strut of an adjacent form, there beingstaggered, relatively wide and narrow slots in opposite sides of thehook and in opposite legs of the U-s'hape portion and wedges locatedthrough said slots and against said struts detachably connecting thespacers to the forms.

EMMETT E. MCVEY. JAMES H. OPRE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 590,690 Small Sept. 28, 1897 1,112,542 Loser Oct. 6, 19141,293,006 Brynoldt Feb. 4, 1919 1,824,222 McLimans Sept. 22, 19312,251,578 Rietzke Aug. 5, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date22,387 Great Britain of 1913 676,051 France of 1929 343,079 Italy of1936

